Sex and Lies True Stories of Women's Intimate Lives in the Arab World

As revealing as Lisa Taddeo s bestseller Three Women, but it has a more urgent political mission. . . . Like Adèle did before it, this slim book of impassioned pleas, and of human impulses that resonate, is one step to more women breaking free.   Evening Standard

Slimani s searing nonfiction debut unearths the deepest and most intimate secrets of a group of women in a culture where sexual autonomy is punished by law. Newsweek

Impassioned . . . a call-to-arms.   Elle

A compassionate and searing examination of women in Morocco and the Arab world. Ms.

Vivid, at times unbearable testimonies . . . In an act of rare humility and generosity, Slimani offers [these women] what they've been deprived of: a space to tell their stories, to exist.   San Francisco Chronicle

Infuriating, heartbreaking stories of the ways in which [women s] desires, happiness, and autonomy have been stunted by a system that denies their validity or very existence. The New York Review of Books

Potent . . . An ensemble portrait of women drawn together through the force of pressures they all face . . . Slimani keeps a light presence in the interviews, not unlike Svetlana Alexievich s conversations with former Soviet women soldiers. John Freeman, Lit Hub

Provocative and disturbing, fervent and moving.   BookPage

Graceful . . . Deft . . . Nuanced and sophisticated . . . An elegant, accentless translation . . . I d read Slimani s 2016 Goncourt Prize winning novel, The Perfect Nanny, experiencing her as a thrillingly precise writer, her observations so sharp they flensed away every flabby stereotype. . . . Slimani has brought that same quality of attention to bear on this book. . . . [She] gives these women their due. Lina Mounzer, The Baffler

Open[s] the eyes of the reader to universal challenges for women . . . You ll learn something or feel something in each essay. Book Riot

Powerful . . . Balancing potent anecdotal accounts with incisive cultural analysis, Slimani makes a persuasive case that breaking the silence around sexuality is essential to advancing Muslim women s social and economic rights. This eye-opening account strikes a resounding chord. Publishers Weekly
 
A passionate, candid, and convincing narrative of unmasking and revelation.   Kirkus Reviews

I salute Leila Slimani for writing this important, honest and brave book. . . . As a writer from a Turkish background, I am moved by Slimani s words. The women she talks to could just as well have been Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, Palestinian, Iranian, Turkish. ­ Elif Shafak, New Statesman

Challenge[s] one of the Arab world s great taboos . . . [and] provides a rare, and perhaps unique, look into a patriarchal Arab society laden with hypocrisy.   The Times (U.K.)

Slimani deserves credit for giving a voice to those for whom just being myself is activism. The Spectator

A gripping portrait of a society riven by inner conflict, poised on a power-keg of desire. The Sydney Morning Herald

Sex and Lies does not lack for passion [and] raises legitimate questions. Financial Times
 
Well executed: the novelist paints vivid portraits of her interviewees. Sunday Times (U.K.)
 
An original book. Cosmopolitan (U.K.)
 
Searing . . . Page-turning. AnOther Magazine

Fascinating and surprising. Elle (France)

A nuanced and pragmatic reflection on the situation of women in Morocco and in the Arab-Muslim world.   L'Express